Zhang Yingying took the last picture with her parents. (prosecution evidence photo)
Zhang Yingying`s life was stopped on suspicion of Christensen carrying Zhang Yingying`s black (Saturn Astra) vehicle. (video screenshot)
Christensen (Brendt Chirstensen), the defendant who kidnapped and killed Zhang Yingying, a female scholar visiting China, was sentenced to life in prison by a jury on June 9, 2017. since Zhang Yingying disappeared on June 9, 2017, after 768 days of investigation and trial, the case has attracted the attention of countless people in the United States and China.
After judge read the outcome of the jury discussion, the defendant hugged lawer Pollack, the main defense, and the defendant`s parents were excited. Zhang Yingying`s parents, younger brother and boyfriend sit quietly, who sat in the first row of the hearing, were speechless. As the spectators in the court got up one after another, they were still sitting in their seats.
At 9: 00 a.m. on the 18th, a jury composed of seven men and five women continued the unfinished closed sentencing meeting on the afternoon of the 17th. Finally, because the jury was unable to reach an agreement on the death penalty or life imprisonment, the defendant was sentenced to life imprisonment. Judge Shadi will formally read out the appeal sentence at 4: 00 p.m. state time.
Zhang Yingying`s boyfriend does not accept the verdict: this is encouraging crime
On July 18, Zhang Yingying`s killer was imprisoned for life and could never bail. Zhang Yingying`s boyfriend said: "the result is to encourage crime, which means that a take drugs drinking lonely person can kill whoever he wants by all cruel means, without paying the price of his life."
Zhang Yingying`s father, Zhang Ronggao, said in a post-sentencing statement that although we do not agree with such a result, we can accept that criminals will spend the rest of their lives in prison, which will make up for our trauma in a sense. We want him to feel the pain of losing Yingying every day in prison. Now that the trial is over, the jury has made a decision. We ask the defendant to inform us unconditionally of Yingying`s whereabouts. If there is any humanity left in your soul, please help put an end to our suffering. Please let us take Yingying home.
Christensen smiled when he heard the jury tell judge that he could not agree on the death penalty.
At the last minute of Zhang Yingying`s case, the prosecution: 767 days long waiting for justice to be done. The defendant must be sentenced to death.
According to the judgment reference factors explained to the jury on the 17th day of the federal judge, including the``statutory exacerbation factors`` , ``illegal exacerbation factors`` , and the endless``mitigating factors`` .
In considering the sentence, he said, the jury must first agree with the prosecution that Kristenson deliberately killed Mr. Zhang, including"ZhangYingying`s death was caused by the kidnapportion", "Kristensoncommitted the crime in the form of injunctive, cruel or evil, "and"theaccused committed a thorough plan and plotting crime."
In addition, the jury can also assess "non-statutory aggravating factors", including "the vulnerability of the victim", "the risk of Christensen`s future", "the defendant`s lack of repentance" and "the defendant has obstructed the handling of the case".
In addition, Shadi also read out 49 "mitigating factors" mentioned by the defense that should not be sentenced to death, including anxiety disorder in the defendant`s mother, long-term alcohol abuse, and a history of mental illness among family members, emotional support given to his sister by the defendant, brain injuries, insomnia, melancholy, anxiety and alcohol abuse, medication problems, and if the defendant were sentenced to death, his parents would be very sad, and the defendant would have sought psychological consultation and assistance many times. However, it has not been properly dealt with, and so on.
The last execution in Illinois was in 1999, when the executed criminals were members of the notorious "open-bore group" (Ripper Crew) cults. Since the end of 1981, the Illinois police have repeatedly found more female corpses, a total of 17. In addition to being mutilated, the left milk has been cut off and removed. Police investigation along the line, the final Andrew including the four suspects arrest.
The state abolished the death penalty in 2011, but if the crime is a federal crime, the jury will still be able to vote anonymously.
The day before, Zhang Yingying case prosecution and defense ended the sentencing phase of the closing arguments, prosecutor rebutted the defense closing arguments, the case was handed over to the jury again. After nearly three hours of closed discussion, the jury has yet to agree on a sentencing sentence, and court adjourned the trial.
Profile: Christensen
< The News-Gazette > said it took more than eight hours for 12 jury members to complete the discussion without agreeing on Christensen`s death penalty. According to the federal law, Christensen was sentenced to life in prison without bail. Earlier, Zhang family lawer Wang Zhidong said there were three possibilities for the jury`s conclusion: first, 12 jurors agreed to the death penalty; second, 12 agreed to life imprisonment; and third, no agreement was reached, that is, as long as one juror disagreed to the death penalty, he would eventually be sentenced to life in prison.
Since the sentencing stage entered on July 8, 35 witnesses have appeared in court to testify in turn. The prosecution and defense lawer tried to convince the jury whether the defendant should be sentenced to death through various witnesses and testimonies.
In order to convince the jury that Christensen must be sentenced to death, the prosecution stressed that the reasons for the "heavy sentence" included that the crime had been "heavily planned and premeditated" and that the crime had been committed in a "particularly cruel and heinous manner", and that Christensen had so far lacked repentance and did not disclose Zhang Yingying`s body, which had a great impact on the victim`s family.
The defense, on the other hand, provided a series of "mitigating factors", describing the defendant as a smart and polite young child through various witnesses and testimonies, struggling to deal with depression, anxiety, sleep problems, and alcohol abuse.
On June 9, two years ago, Zhang Yingying, a Chinese visiting scholar who had just arrived in the United States for more than two months, got into a black car near the University of Illinois at Champaign. Subsequently, US police arrest suspect Christensen and began more than two years of investigation and trial.
On Oct. 3, 2017, a federal grand jury added prosecute charges to the suspect and formally decided to charge Christensen with "kidnapping to death" prosecute suspect. On October 11 of the same year, Zhang Yingying`s case was reopened, but the suspect pleaded not guilty. Christensen`s defense, lawer, put forward a number of reasons to postpone the trial, originally scheduled for February 27, 2018, to October 2018 and April 2019.
On June 24, 2019, a jury in the Federal Court of Central Illinois found Brent Christensen guilty of kidnapping and murder Chinese visiting scholar Zhang Yingying in 2017. Christensen faces three accusation: kidnapping Zhang Yingying to death; lying to the FBI that he was not there the day she disappeared, but playing games and sleeping; and lying to the FBI that he did drive an Asian woman in a car that day, but soon let her off. According to the court arrangement, the case will be adjourned temporarily and will enter the sentencing stage on July 8 th. Christensen will face life in prison or the death penalty.
Geng Shuang, China`s Ministry of Foreign Affairs speaker, said at a regular journalist meeting that China had been closely following the progress of Zhang Yingying`s case and took note of the latest trial. China demands that the US judiciary hear the case fairly in accordance with the law, bring the perpetrators to justice, and bring justice to justice. The Chinese Consulate General in Chicago will continue to assist Zhang Yingying`s family in handling related matters in the United States.
